Fallen Willow
by tohonomike
Summary: What might have happened had Willow died during the Soul Curse?
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Fallen Willow 1 of 2

**Author:** tohonomike

**Email:** All characters belong to their rightful owners...the Joss/ME characters, and any other characters are clearly not mine. NO money is involved.

**Summary:** Somebody had a story idea earlier today…and this is how I'm purging it from my databanks. When grumpy, I might continue it…

The Orb glows brightly for a brief moment and goes dark as Willow suddenly

relaxes, collapses and dies.

Buffy raises her sword to finish off Angelus months too late, but stops as he suddenly gasps loudly and groans in pain, a glowing in his eyes for just the moment. Angel raises himself back up off the floor, his eyes full of tears, "Buffy? What's going on?"

Xander limps inot the emergency room with Giles, calling for help and making up a plausible story about a gang attack As they shooed the young man away, he decided to find Willow's room, and found OZ staring ahead without really noticing anything, Cordelia leaning and sobbing on him. Xander looked into the room, to see a covered gurney being moved out.

"What happened? Where's Willow?"

Cordelia looked up, her eyes red from tears, and she threw herself into Xander's arms, sobbing and babbling. With years of Willow-babble to his credit, he sadly understood every word. Willow was dead from trying to force a soul back into a corpse.

"Oz?" Xander's emotions ran deep and he choked out over Cordelia's shoulder; the shorter man looked up, "Always remember she loved you."

Oz nodded once in recognition of how hard this also was for Xander. Cordelia pulled herself off of Xander.

"I'm sorry, Xander."

"Never be afraid to show yourself to me, Cor; you're all I have left. Jesse and Willow are both gone. Buffy managed to kill everybody but us and Giles just because of her … I can't even say it it's so repulsive. I don't ever want to see her again. Let's go make sure she hasn't also managed to kill Giles."

Xander stared ahead as Cordelia clung to him; the police had arrived and Xander had said nothing to dissuade them from hunting Buffy; instead he'd given descriptions of Drusilla, Angelus, Spike and a few other vamps he'd vaguely encountered, "they're all part of the same gang or something; Buffy just screws the one, don't think she actually killed anyone."

They insisted on Giles staying overnight rather than leave as he'd wanted, telling him directly that they weren't going to lose another. Eventually the Chases made their way through the police and hospital staff and demanded to know why Cordelia was hanging off Tony Harris' son. Cordelia snapped, letting out all the venom and bile and fright of the last year on them, and the Mayor standing behind them that had been called in when the rich couple had made a stink.

"Don't you EVER compare Xander with my Xander, Daddy! He's saved me from all these gangs you refuse to support tax money being spent on police to fight! He's good, decent, doesn't drink or anything! I've had gang members and psychos try to cut me into pieces, kill me in alleys, beat me up on school grounds, destroy two cars, and I'm alive because of Him! Every time I tried to tell you or momma anything you shoo me away and hand me money! How many times does he have to get sent to the hospital jumping into a group of ugly-toothed bastards before you realize he's the real deal and not his father. You wanna show everybody how much better than Tony Harris you are, why don't you take his son and make him into someone Tony Harris could never be—the man who could marry your daughter and never look back!"

The Chases stood in shock, looking at how worn and distressed both their daughter and the young man to whom she now cried into his chest, held each other. The Mayor stepped forward, and whispered into the Chases' ears, "The police were just telling me pretty much the same thing; young Alexander is not a vigilante, but HAS developed a quiet and unsought reputation among his peers for jumping in whenever it's needed; and your daughter's here today because of it."

"Why didn't we hear of this?" her mother asked in confusion.

"Until this evening, we had no confirmation, only suspicions apparently; I've chastised the police force on this," Wilkins assured them, smiling in hopes that this would be the final blow against the Slayer's group now that his Ascension was only a year away.

Mr. Chase looked to his wife in this, and she nodded firmly at Alexander in support. He stepped forward and placed a hand on his daughter's back and the young man's shoulder, "Have…?"

"No!" Xander told him, "I'd never take advantage of Cordy that way!"

"In that case, Alexander, you not only have our permission to pursue this … courtship, but you'll be staying in the guest wing of the mansion for now. No funny business, and no staying the night in each other's rooms, understood?"

The man held out his hand, which Xander took, "Understood sir, and, uh—"

"Don't worry about thanks, Alexander; you're going to be part of the Chases now. You'll have a lot of work ahead of you this summer bringing up your education and etiquette skills. Then we'll see about bringing on in some kind of internship capacity at the firm while you finish your senior year on more of a business track; maybe computers."

"Um, uh, yes sir…"

Thus began for Xander his own 'Eighty Days' of what he jokingly called hell; even though Cordelia would be gone with her parents part of the summer, Xander had had arranged for him three busy tracks in which he'd be expected to advance: bodyguard skills with which to continue protecting the Chase 'princess,' an equal amount of time dealing with math of both a business and practical nature so that he would be able to pursue a career track likely to properly support Cordelia once they finished college if not sooner, and renovation work on one property in which Xander would be granted a twenty percent equity, this latter in case he would pursue a real estate-based career instead of a financial-investment career.

Xander spent five solid hours a day being pushed hard by his possible father-in-law's minions, though the bright side was they were being ordered and paid to make him succeed. And succeed he did; he owed it to the friends he'd lost, and to the girl who'd declared her love of him. And Xander Harris wasn't about to let her down—ever.

And as a bit of vengeance, he'd learned that Angelus' mansion was tax delinquent, the potential upside delighting the Chases to know end and gaining him and Cordelia both praise of their business acumen. At the last minute, Cordelia had declared her desire to undergo the same training as her beau, though certainly not the renovation work; during that time she was found a position at an upscale retail outlet near the college in which to learn an appreciation for the handling of funds and what could reasonably expected from her own employees in the future.

And it didn't hurt that the Mayor-influenced press held them up almost as Romeo and Juliet, but in a good way, an example of making it through school and overcoming the challenges of gangs and such.

Oz finished out the school year, and crammed enough to where he finished his senior year the first time around, taking a job in Washington State with the contractual guarantee of specific three-day periods each month for as long as he worked for them. In the last letter before totally fading away, he'd mentioned joining a local cover band, and that was it.

School had started and Buffy had returned home after a brief trip of her own to Hell, the first night at her mom's house easing her slightly toward her own life.

Joyce shook her head at Buffy's comment about art gotten in from the gallery, "Buffy, you have no appreciation of primitive art. You going out?"

"Oh. Um... Well, i-if it's okay. I, um... I'd like to find Willow and Xander."

"Oh, Buffy…there's something you should know sweetheart," Joyce hesitantly told her daughter as she placed her hands on Buffy's shoulders, "Willow didn't survive casting the soul curse."

Buffy collapsed in a faint.

**Principal Snyder's office**

Snyder looks at Joyce and Buffy intently from behind his desk, a tiny little smirk on his face, "Absolutely not. Under no circumstances."

Joyce gasped, "But you can't keep her out of school. You don't have the right…"

"I have not only the right, but also a nearly physical sensation of pleasure at the thought of keeping her out of school. I'd describe myself as tingly.

"Buffy was cleared of all those charges."

"Yes. And while she may live up to the not-a-murderer requirement for enrollment, she is a troublemaker, destructive to school property and the occasional student. And her grade point average is enough to... I'm sorry. Another tingle moment. Besides, I have two restraining orders against her; a couple of upstanding students want no affiliation whatsoever with such a suspected danger."

Joyce can barely controlled anger in her voice, "Who are these students! I don't know of anyone who'd be so cavalier about a young girl's entire future!"

"Their names are Alexander Lavelle and Cordelia Chase who have retained legal counsel with the suggestion that Buffy be bused to Fondren instead; and I'm quite sure that a girl with the talents and abilities of Buffy will land on her … feet. In fact, I noticed as I came in this morning that Hot Dog on a Stick is hiring. You will look so cute in that hat."

Buffy was confused at the named individuals and angered by Snyder's attitude, "Let's go, Mom."

Joyce frowns at the little troll, "This isn't over. If I have to, I'll go all the way to the Mayor."

"Wouldn't that be an interesting conversation."

When Buffy got home she angrily threw a picture of her and the Scooby Gang into a wall; it split and destroyed the ugly mask from the night before, and only the collapse onto the couch weeping saved her from any remark by her mother about the damage.

It took a week and a visit to Snyder by Ripper to get Buffy back into Sunnydale, and her classes were structured to keep her reasonably away from her last two former friends on campus. Willow's needless death and three months being trained and positively reinforced all summer had firmed any consideration in Xander for possible rapprochement.

Giles had twice tried, but the couple had politely told him that in the event of a REAL apocalypse he could call, but other than that they had no desire to interact with the person responsible for the deaths of dozens since she'd refused to dust Angelus.

The two cut quite a figure; the confidence and hard work of the summer finally polishing off the awkward spastic and left a decent enough dancer in place. The Chases were impressed by Xander and by the amazing maturity both exhibited since their summer of training. Weekends and afternoons in which Xander was not one of the new offensive running backs on the football team, were spent learning golf and equestrian skills with Cordelia at the country club.

And two weeks into the semester, the couple had had to rescue the Cordettes from a pathetic threesome of vampires outside of the Bronze. Using their aikido and bodyguard skills drilled intensively into them over the summer, Cordelia managed to surprise and best one vamp as Xander took out the others right in front of the girls.

"Wow," was all the girls could say, Harmony continuing, "No wonder you're with him, Cordelia, way hunky."

"Got that right," she smirked at the Cordettes, "But you know no one will believe you if you tell them we saved you from vampires, right?"

The three girls nodded as Xander picked up the conversational thread with his trademark grin, "But if you ever see us doing the same for others, we sure wouldn't mind if you covered for us, alright?"

The Cordettes smiled, winked at Cordelia, and headed back into the hangout.

The couple generally didn't get involved unless they thought they would come out of it intact; they lived for each other more than themselves, so they didn't do anything stupid, but sure became known as being friendly towards everyone at the Bronze, calling out and redirecting folks back into the fun and often times would-be pick-ups simply disappeared after a 'warning' out of sight by Alex or Cordelia.

One night in the first days of October, Alex and Cordy were celebrating the final renovation of the renovated mansion on Crawford Street; for them it was also a personal vindication and closing memorial for Willow and the others now that Angelus' presence had not only been removed, but sanded and painted away as well. They noted the brief showing of the blonde slayer with Jonathan and Amy—her new outcast friends. And they were quick to excuse themselves as a girl seemed intent on heading out the door with a fashion failure with cold hands.

The Cordettes managed to delay Buffy from interfering, reminding her to give it a few minutes or she might have that restraining order enforced. Thus deflated, it kept her from the events in the alley.

The raven-haired gal lithely threw the blood sucker into the wall and then back up the alley—into the hands of one Alex Lavelle, whose girlfriend managed to slam home the scoring point, Alex dropping the monster before too much dust could get on either of them.

Cordelia approached the girl, holding out her hand with a cross in it, "Hi, I'm Cordelia and this is Alex…nice moves there. You hang around British guys who Watch others fight?"

The girl smiled and shook the hand, cross pressed between palms, noting that Cordelia left it with her as Xander also extended a hand to shake, "Hi."

"I'm Faith, and the answer to the question is yes, you know where the other member of the club is?"

"Yeah, but she's a waste," Cordelia told her, "We'll take you to Rupert Giles, her Watcher, though. Any really big bads coming this way we need to be aware of?"

Faith was kind of swept away by their directness, and let out the truth before she realized it, "Yeah, an old master vamp named Kakistos…"

Alex noted her far off look as he held the door of the convertible for both girls, "I'm sorry for your loss, Faith. Even if we have to interact with … Buffy … we'll help if we can."

"That's right," a confident Cordelia Chase assured her as she waved to Harmony checking from the door and saw the girl smiling back in relief, "and make sure Rupert puts you up himself; he's boring but most of the motel rooms around here are crap."

"Okay…"

"No, he's safe, a good guy," Cordelia went on as Alex took the most direct roads possible, "Not going to take advantage of you, though he might make you drink tea all the time…"

They all shared a laugh, Faith tearing a little remembering her own lost Watcher, and they made it the rest of the way, not noticing a despondent Buffy leave the Bronze and head for the mansion to say good bye to the last person who she remembered as having really cared for her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Fallen Willow 2 0f 2

**Author:** tohonomike

**Email:** All characters belong to their rightful owners...the Joss/ME characters, and any other characters are clearly not mine. NO money is involved.

**Summary:** Somebody had a story idea recently…and this is how I'm purging it from my databanks.

Buffy was surprised to find the Crawford Street mansion fully rejuvenated, or so she perceived through the locked gate. The porch light and at least one other was on, but the realty company name was Chase Investments. So she made her way to Angel's old apartment, where things had truly begun t go bad the night of her birthday party.

Surprisingly, no one had ventured into the place, perhaps it was the slight but noticeable smell of … death in the air. She went inside, and found everything layered in dust.

'It has been awhile,' she thought, arms holding herself tightly for comfort, 'I miss you all…I miss you Angel…'

Buffy sat on the coffee table and wept.

The library was a tense, but nowhere near as unhappy a place as Angel's former lodgings. Rupert had tried to encourage the departure of the prominent couple, but they'd insisted on staying, albeit across the room, to make sure Giles boarded her himself, or they'd be hell to pay.

He'd looked perplexed, and with the idea in front of himself answered hat of course he would help the girl… it's part of being a Watcher to a Slayer.

Faith had explained, with Cordelia and Xander giving her encouragement and support, the entire Kakistos story and Faith's making her way to Sunnydale. Giles looked uncomfortable at the glaring omissions that implied how Faith had twice covered her lodging expenses. Cordelia interrupted the street bravado.

"Faith, you're now a friend of Cordelia Chase, and there'll be no more of that. You're clearly better than that and Giles will make sure that won't happen again. Right Giles?"

"Of course," Giles asserted, "In spite of a … breach between Buffy a-and Cordelia and Xander, they've ignored tradition and helped save the world. And your part of that."

He looked up at the teens, "Though if they are to continue a closer association with one Slayer, I'll not allow them to withhold equal support and assistance to the other. Xander's Halloween experience of last year means he knows why…"

The male teen froze a moment in contemplation, then nodded for both of them, "Fair enough Giles, as far as the Slayer-specific stuff goes…and if Buffy apologizes for screwing the vampire, failing to act, apologizing for desertion in the face of the enemy and swears never to engage in friendly relations with a vampire ever again…we will allow her to regain our trust and rebuild a friendship."

"It's unlikely she'd find another vampire with a soul," Giles responded neutrally.

"I just want to make sure this kind of thing never happens again, Giles. It may be too late for—well, she can at least tell us it won't happen again."

"You still blame her for Willow?" he asked quietly.

Cordelia interrupted, "No, we blame Willow for that. We blame Buffy for not dusting the bastard before it got to that point, Giles. We're entirely fair."

"Okay…" a quiet voice behind them almost whispered, tear tracks fresh on her face, her eyes swollen as she met the looks of the couple. "I, I'm sorry…"

Giles slowly moved to offer support for his surrogate daughter as Cordelia and Xander exchanged an almost telepathic look and nodded, Cordelia emphasizing, "For all of it?"

"Yeah…" the rather lonely girl sobbed, only to have the well-dressed couple hesitate only for a moment and hug her…even Cordelia…who no longer feared Buffy as a potential rival. They comforted the girl and cried, Cordelia pulling a surprised Giles into it, and a moment later Xander pulled Faith in, shrugging.

Giles spoke for them , "You're part of the family now, Faith, for good or bad our history and yours are one now."

It was weird for Faith… a first she felt she had found friends and safety, then feared it being lost… only to find out she was accepted as an equal in the reuniting family. Buffy called her mother, and told her about Faith's situation, and if it wasn't okay to stay at their place, if she could help Giles get her set up at his place.

Joyce on the phone discussed it with Rupert, and after a moment he hung up and with a relieved smile informed his children, "You'll be staying at Buffy's, but will also have a place here if you need a time out, Faith. That is also extended to you, Buffy. But it has to go through Joyce each time so we won't be duped by you nefarious teenagers."

A week passed, during which Amy and Jonathan openly declared themselves a couple, and while Cordelia and Xander didn't resume infestation of the library, they weren't strangers to the blonde slayer, said hello and twice ate lunch with her.

The new Slayer took some getting used to, but Cordelia and Buffy both liked her, the Boston native's personality falling somewhere between the two. Kakistos proved to be an amazingly easy vampire to eliminate, Cordelia and Xander responding with Giles in time to eliminate three minions and a wily vamp later identified as Mr. Trick. That vampire had been trying to abandon his master through the very rear entrance the Scoobies hoped to find little resistance in their attempt at rescue.

In spite of Cordelia's having to complain about a PCP gang member damaging her car to the cops and insurance company, having hit the vamp into the wall hard enough to break most of his bones, the vigilante group dusted their way in to see Faith thrust a beam through the ugly master vampire as Buffy covered her six.

Reports of a particularly gruesome animal attack on a student galvanized the gang to more patrols, Xander wearing goggles with special lenses then reporting locations to the Slayers who patrolled after them. Cordelia's repaired car suffered a second problem after resolving the Pete the Mr. Hyde guy at the school, when she struck him and a feral vampire that seemed to be trying to get Buffy.

Striking them quite hard, the two bodies hit a parked car hard, setting off a car alarm the Sunnydale Police would only tentatively investigate in an hour or so. Cordelia's car air bags activated, and she lost control of the car enough to glance off a light pole before coming to a stop. Faith, who'd been following Buffy after making sure that Amy and Jonathan, both beaten up pretty badly by Pete before the Slayers arrived, were on the way to the hospital with Giles, took stock of the situation and dove in with two stakes instead of one as Buffy picked herself up from a near miss with the cars.

Xander was helping Cordelia climb out of the car as Faith lashed out and stabbed the feral vampire, then spun-kicked it in the groin. Buffy grabbed Pete from the ground, only to find that he'd suffered too many car-related injuries and was dead. Turning, she watched Faith take apart the vamp, which she could only see from the back. Faith launched herself from a hit into a car, turning it into a somersault over the beast, which she grabbed and threw to Buffy, faced first.

Xander and Cordelia arrived and pulled out stakes, ready to help their friend. Xander called out and threw a stake to the blonde slayer, but not in time.

Faith threw her stake true, as the pain felt be the vamp ebbed as he fell into the hands of Buffy, its face resumed its human form.

"Buffy?" the confused Angel asked as he recognized her, and turned to dust.

Faith came up and saw the equally shocked faces of her friends Alex and Cor, "What's wrong guys? We got it before it could hurt B…"

Cordelia exclaimed with relief, "Thank you, Faith! Angelus was back and somehow you got him."

Faith looked shocked at this, and that her sister-slayer had fainted, caught by Xander from the stress of the moment, "F—k, I'm glad I dusted him instead of B again, ya know?"

Cordelia nodded in sympathy for the unconscious girl, "Yeah, I don't know how she got rid of that monster the first time, but I don't think she could have survived a second time."

Liam, Jana and Willow smiled as they heard the scream of a Power That Be that wouldn't now be able to enter the mortal realm, and that a certain law firm would continue to believe the time for its apocalyptic maneuverings lay decades if not further in the future, the presence of Angel no longer triggering the senses of seers and the interest of researchers.

"I hope she'll be okay," Liam considered, "It's strange not being there any more."

Willow smiled, "Yeah, but she has the others, and the new girl to help her. Hope that'll be enough. Well, I still have to say my good-byes to a certain wolfy musician in Redmond…"

Jana nodded as the girl faded out, "And I'll see you tomorrow for our assignment the next dimension over."

"Going to see Rupert?" Liam asked sadly.

"Yeah, you?"

"I think I'll watch them a few minutes longer before we play Guardian Angels to these Charmed Ones…"


End file.
